The Woodlands wrestling Standout Riley Rayome Joins National Champion North Central College Program

The top remaining uncommitted wrestler in Texas for the Class of 2025 has found a future home.

The Woodlands wrestling standout Riley Rayome posted on social media she will compete at North Central College, which just finished as the NCWWC national runners-up and national champion last year. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Riley Rayome (@rayomeriley)

Rayome made the announcement earlier this month before heading to Spokane, Washington, for the 2025 USMC Women’s National Championships. 

“I picked North Central because of the team atmosphere, the partners, and the wrestling facilities,” Rayome said. “I loved how the team responded to each other and the family chemistry they had. Along with the amazing partner opportunities I would get there.”

Rayome won her third straight title in 6A and a 54-0 mark. She was the THSWCA 6A Girls Wrestler of the Year, named Academic All-State and picked up 200 wins in her high school career.

She joins a program — based in Naperville, Illinois — that had 19 seniors on this year’s roster. Sydney Petzinger and Amani Jones were national champions, while 10 other wrestlers earned All-American honors.

“It means the world to me to have the opportunity to continue growing in this sport,” Rayome said. “I’ve had a long journey with lots of goals completed, but I still have more left. I’m excited to have the chance to make these goals my reality with a new team.”

She joins a team with a handful of Texans on the roster. The 2024-25 roster for Cardinals also included Brittyn Corbishley from The Woodlands College Park; Dakota Drew from San Antonio Douglas MacArthur; Caitlyn Flaherty from Frisco Memorial; Traeh Haynes from Cibolo Byron P. Steele and Zurri Zamora from Amarillo Tascosa.

Rayome said she is ready for the challenge that college wrestling will provide her.

“To me, it’s like hitting the reset button,” she said of carrying high school success into college. “In college, everyone is a state champ/national champ, so now I get to make new statements and accomplishments.”

Rayome capped off her career winning 99 in a row by taking home a title at 114 pounds with a win over Grace Romans of Allen in a battle of No. 1-ranked Rayome and No. 2-ranked Romans.

The two met in the regional finals the weekend before and Rayome also won by a decision then.

The senior finished with a 215-5 mark in high school and won titles in her last three years. She was fifth as a freshman when she was at Humble Kingwood Park.

Rayome is interested in studying business at the college near Chicago but will still look at coaching wrestling in the future.

Well, technically, continue coaching. She works with the youth wrestlers with the Highlanders Wrestling Club and when she wasn’t wrestling during the UIL season, she was on the bench with her dad helping coach her teammates.

“I have a passion to pursue coaching,” she said. “There’s nothing I love more than spreading my knowledge to the younger generation of athletes, so I definitely see myself going into coaching later in life.”